Heated disposable towels

ABSTRACT

Disposable towels or wipes having a chamber or ampoule containing a predetermined quantity of a supercooled liquid exotherm compound and a small amount of the compound in the crystal form, such that the crystal and the liquid are separated until time for use. Upon action by the user, such as by bending or otherwise breaking the separation between the crystal and the liquid, an exothermic reaction takes place as the liquid crystallizes, releasing a known amount of heat to cause the towel to warm. Calcium carbonate is the preferred compound. A temperature indicator may also be included as part of the packaging.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a disposable towel that contains a heat sourcefor a more comfortable use. More particularly, the invention relates toa disposable towel in which an exothermic reaction contained within thetowel generates sufficient heat to facilitate the use of the towel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Wet and dry wipes are well known commercial, consumer, hospital andnursing home products that are available in many forms. These wet anddry wipes are available in interfolded, folded or unfoldedconfigurations.

For example, stacks of Wet and dry wipes have been available whereineach of the Wet and dry wipes in the stack has been arranged in a foldedconfiguration, such as a c-folded, z-folded, or quarter-foldedconfiguration.

Wet and dry wipes have also been dispensed in sheets from a tub likecontainer with a hinged lid on the top. The lid is opened and individualor singularized sheets of the wipes are removed. Another type ofcontainer that has been used for wet and dry wipes provides a roll ofwipes in which the wipes are pulled from the top of the container in adirection that is parallel to the axis of the roll. These wipes arepulled from the center of a hollow coreless roll that has perforatedsheets.

These wet and dry wipes can also be packaged in a semi-flexible pouchwhich has a stack of rectangular-shaped, moistened sheets, available inthe same configuration as above. These packages are commonly made of animpervious film, typically a polyolefin. This film prevents externalcontamination from entering the package directly through the walls ofthe package. The package frequently has a re-closable cover flap. Thereclosable cover flap articulates between an open position and a closedposition. The open position allows for dispensing hygienic articles fromthe package. In the closed position, the cover flap prevents thehygienic articles from inadvertently falling out of the package.

Wet and dry wipes may comprise of an absorbent sheet can be any wipe,towel tissue or sheet like product including natural fibers, syntheticfibers, synthetic material and combinations thereof, that is wet ormoist or becomes wet during use or prior to use or prepared and treatedto impart wet strength thereto, preferably having the dimensions of theusual wash cloth.

Wet and dry wipes have been made from this variety of materials and thathave been moistened with a variety of suitable wiping solutions. Theliquid employed in the pre-moistening of the wet sheet is generally anaqueous alcoholic or non-alcoholic solution which may further contain asurface active detergent and a humectants and, in some instances, also ascenting agent.

Typically, the wet and dry wipes have been designed to provide multiplyor one-at-a-time dispensing, which can be accomplished using a singlehand. Such single-handed, multiply one-at-a-time dispensing, isparticularly desirable because the other hand of the user is typicallyrequired to be simultaneously used for other activities.

For example, wet products such as wet and dry wipes have manyapplications. They may be used with small children and infants whenchanging diapers, they may be used for household cleaning tasks, theymay be used for cleaning hands, they may be used as a bath tissue, theymay be used by a caregiver to clean a disabled or incontinentadult/baby, or they may be used in and for a whole host of otherapplications, where it is advantageous to have a wipe or towel that hassome moisture in it and is warm to touch and use on the skin.

Currently these products are placed in suitable heating containers thatmight include microwaves, heated water or toaster like devices, whichthen are heated from 98° to over 110°.

Once removed from these heating sources, the user or caregiver mustguess at the temperatures and if to hot can affect the skin of thepatient or user and could cause skin damage. In the case of an infant itcan also cause death, or long term damage.

Disposable towels are also handy for many ordinary situations where itis necessary to clean spills, dirt, and other contaminating agents,particularly when a person comes into contact with a substance thatneeds to be removed quickly. It is particularly helpful to have a heatedtowel when low melting substances, such as butter, mayonnaise, coldcream, makeup and other similar cosmetic materials are to be removed.Because these materials, inter alia, are difficult to wash out of atowel, it is easier to use disposable towels rather than attempting towash the towel, reconstitute it to provide heat on demand, and re-useit.

A number of prior art products have been proposed to develop heatabletowels. Ravich U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,804 relates to wet disposable towelsthat are heated by mixing a reducing agent and an oxidizing agent thathave been kept separate until use. Examples of oxidizing agents arehydrogen peroxide and urea hydrogen peroxide, while reducing agents arethiourea and thiobarbituric acid. This generally discloses the conceptof warmed towels but does not disclose a source of heat other than bymixing two chemicals that must be kept apart to prevent premature heatgeneration. The reaction is not totally controlled and, because it is areaction between two chemicals, care must be taken to insure the heatdoes not build up too rapidly.

Caillouette et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,175,558 discloses a thermaltherapeutic pack in which a liquid is separated from other chemicalsthat either release or absorb heat when mixed. Bourne et al. U.S. Pat.No. 4,011,945 discloses a bandage that has a water reservoir and a solidendothermic material that react to cool the burn when the bandage issqueezed to break a seal. Patel U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,315 is anotherbandage design where a wall ruptures when the use of bandage. Both ofthese references require the chemicals to be contained in separatecompartments.

The use of supercooled liquids has been an available technology for over100 years for generating an exothermic reaction under controlledcircumstances. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,872,442 and 4,889,953 to Manker disclosethe use of activators to initiate crystallization or destabilization ofa super-cooled aqueous salt solution to cause the generation of heat ina heat pack. Stainless steel, beryllium-copper alloys andphosphor-bronze alloys are used. Hettle et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,589also uses stainless steel to trigger thermal energy packs to releaseheat from super-cooled solutions. Cheney U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,048discloses an infant heel warmer using supercooled solutions of sodiumacetate and hydroxyethyl cellulose together, along with a disk orampoule that contains sodium acetate crystals that are released when thedisk or ampoule is broken to expose the solution to the crystals.Finally, Milligan et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,275,156 teaches a reusabledevice in which a trigger causes crystallization of materials such assodium acetate tetrahydrate by contact with rigid objects, such as smallspheres, wherein the rolling action of the spheres is said to producecrystallization of the solution. It would be a great advantage if atowel device could be made that would have no metal or othercontaminating components as the crystallization inducing element.

Another advantage would be to provide a disposable towel system that isself-heating and that is safe to use on the face, hands and arms ofhumans.

Yet another advantage of the present invention is that it is simple tomanufacture and is inexpensive to produce.

Other advantages will appear hereinafter.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It has now been discovered that the above and other objects of thepresent invention may be accomplished in the following manner. Theunique aspect of this invention is the ability to initiate an exothermicreaction without the use of metal or other components, such that theexotherm begins using a small quantity of the solid form of thecompound. Preferred materials are sodium acetate and sodium carbonate,with the latter being most preferred.

In it's simplest form the invention comprises a single or dual chamberplastic ampoule or like structure, similar to a straw or other breakableobject that contains an exotherm to create a heat pack. Once crushed orbroken the chamber releases the active ingredient, such as theaforementioned sodium acetate or sodium carbonate, though otherexotherms may be employed.

The exotherm is a super cooled liquid that is also quite stable as aliquid. By crushing or breaking the plastic structure, a few moleculesare forced to flip to the solid state, and the rest of the liquid thenrushes to solidify as well. This causes the temperature of thesolidifying liquid to jump to a controlled temperature up to 130° F. inthe process. The preferred method to causes the crystallization is byadding a tiny bit of crystal from a protected source. Once released itwould cause the exothermic heat reaction.

This released reaction then causes the fabric of the wipes to be heated.The released heat would be controlled by the quantity of exothermscontained in the breakable object. This source would be placed betweenthe wipes made of natural fibers, synthetic fibers, synthetic materialand combinations thereof, and once crush or broken would cause areaction to become heated.

In order to determine the temperature, the flexible or ridged packagewould have may have a heat sensitive ink or indicator that could be ofany material that would change color when the correct temperature isreached. The package may also have a label or strip made of a materialcapable of indicating the rise of the temperature. These indicatorscould also be placed on top or between the wipes to indicate temperatureor rise in temperature. If the ink or indicator changes color withincreased temperature, the trademark, for example, could reach a newcolor when the towels are ready for use, and a warning label wouldchange color if the temperature exceeded a desired or predeterminedlimit.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the invention, reference is herebymade to the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the preferred embodiment of theinvention shown in place with towels; and

FIGS. 2A and 2B are plan views of the packaging for the device shown inFIG. 1;

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As shown in the figures, the device 10 is a small ampoule for use with anumber of towels 11, as seen in FIG. 1. The number of towels will bedetermined by the intended end use, and may be as few as one or twotowels or wipes, and may be one or two dozen. The primary factor to useto determine the number of wipes or towels will be the size of thepackage and the use to which they will be put. In some instances, suchas when desires to wash his or her hands and face, a small package ofthree or four towels will be satisfactory. In other cases, such as whenthe towels are to be used by number of people, such as in a schoolclassroom, more than a dozen may be needed.

For the purpose of this invention, the term “towel” is defined as any ofthe wet or dry wipes well known for use in commercial, consumer,hospital and nursing home products. These wet and/or dry wipes areavailable in interfolded, folded or unfolded configurations. Forexample, stacks of wet and dry wipes have been available wherein each ofthe Wet and dry wipes in the stack has been arranged in a foldedconfiguration, such as a c-folded, z-folded, or quarter-foldedconfiguration. The “towel” may be made of paper, cloth or syntheticmaterials and may be woven, non woven, matted or otherwise formed into awet or dry wipe shape and size.

The towels of the present invention are heated by an exothermic reactionof supercooled liquid crystallizing into a solid form. Any such materialthat has the ability to initiate an exothermic reaction without the useof metal or other components may be used. Preferred materials are sodiumacetate and sodium carbonate, with the latter being most preferred.

The container or ampoule 17 of the present invention is formed fromplastic, straw, or any other material that can be easily fractured orbroken to release the small amount of crystal for contact with theliquid. Ampoule 17 is placed in the middle of a stack of towels 11, asseen if FIG. 1. Then the entire stack of folded towels is placed in apackage for shipment, storage, display and purchase. The user then takesthe package and uses one or more towels as needed.

Ampoule 17 is formed from plastic or other materials that are suitablefor keeping a liquid such as supercooled liquid 19 on one side ofampoule 17 and separated from the other side by a liquid imperviousbarrier 21. In the other side of ampoule 17 is a small quantity 23 ofthe crystal form of the supercooled liquid. When ampoule 17 is flexed,it breaks and the crystal 23 mixes in the liquid 19 because barrier 21has been broken or removed by the twisting action. This initiates theexothermic reaction and heat is transferred to the towels 11.

In FIG. 2, one preferred packaging element is shown. Package 31 includesa front side 33 and a back side 35, the latter of which contains theusual manufacturing data. Front side 33 includes instructions and atemperature indicator 37 which advances in color as the temperatureincreases in order to inform the user of the degree of exotherm. Theampoule 17, which is inside towels 11 which are inside package 31, isbroken by flexing the package until the user senses that the ampoule hassnapped or broken. The user will also feel heat beginning to be releasedin the form of a crystallization exotherm by the supercooled liquidinside the ampoule. When the indicator 37 shows the temperature for usehas been reached, the package 31 is opened and towels are used asneeded. These temperature indicating labels have in inbuilt adhesivethat can be attached to the outside label to indicate and record thetemperature. When the temperature is increasing as the nominatedtemperature is exceeded, the label color will change to show the numberof temperature increments 37 a, 37 b, etc. that have been reached orexceeded. The indicator has a permanent recording function so that themaximum temperature reaches is always recorded. Such labels areavailable commercially. Technical Industrials Inc. manufactures andsells such products, which have the name Temperature Recording Labels inthe industry. It is also contemplated to use Irreversible TemperaturePaint/Inks, which would be used to print the labels, such as the logoshown in the drawings, and once the ampoule was broken, the rising heatwould change the color in the name. Once the whole name turned a desiredcolor, the package would be opened and the towels used.

While particular embodiments of the present invention have beenillustrated and described, it is not intended to limit the invention toany specific embodiment. The description of the invention is notintended to limit the invention.

1. A device for providing warm towels comprising: at least one towel; apackage for containing said at least one towel; and a heat source incontact with but separate from said at least one towel, said heat sourcecomprising a frangible container containing a quantity of supercooledliquid capable of releasing a predetermined amount of heat uponcrystallization and a quantity of the crystal form of said liquidseparated from said supercooled liquid and present in an amountsufficient to initiate crystallization of said quantity of supercooledliquid upon flexing said frangible container to cause said crystal tocontact at least a portion of said supercooled liquid.
 2. The device ofclaim 1, wherein said supercooled liquid is selected from the groupconsisting of sodium carbonate and sodium acetate.
 3. The device ofclaim 2, wherein said crystallization causes the temperature of thesolidifying liquid to reach a controlled temperature of up to 130° F. 4.The device of claim 1, which further includes a temperature sensitiveportion on said package to indicate the temperature of the towels afterbreaking said fiangible container.
 5. The device of claim 1, whichcontains a plurality of towels, said frangible container being placedproximate the middle of said plurality of towels to provide heat to saidplurality of towels.
 6. The device of claim 5, wherein said towels areformed from materials selected from the group consisting of naturalfibers, synthetic fibers, synthetic materials and combinations thereof.7. A device for providing warm towels, comprising: towel means forproviding at least one towel; package means for containing said at leastone towel means; and heat source means for producing heat to warm saidtowel means in contact with but separate from said at least one towelmeans, said heat source means comprising a frangible container means forcontaining a quantity of supercooled liquid capable of releasing apredetermined amount of heat upon crystallization and a quantity of thecrystal form of said liquid separated from said supercooled liquid andpresent in an amount sufficient to initiate crystallization of saidquantity of supercooled liquid upon flexing said frangible containermeans to cause said crystal to contact at least a portion of saidsupercooled liquid.
 8. The device of claim 7, wherein said supercooledliquid is selected from the group consisting of sodium carbonate andsodium acetate.
 9. The device of claim 8, wherein said crystallizationcauses the temperature of the solidifying liquid to reach a controlledtemperature of up to 130° F.
 10. The device of claim 7, which furtherincludes temperature sensitive means on said package for indicating thetemperature of the at least one after breaking said frangible containermeans.
 11. The device of claim 7, which contains a plurality of towels,said frangible container means being placed proximate the middle of saidplurality of towels to provide heat to said plurality of towels.
 12. Thedevice of claim 11, wherein said towels are formed from materialsselected from the group consisting of natural fibers, synthetic fibers,synthetic materials and combinations thereof.
 13. A method for providingwarm towels, comprising the steps of: placing at least one towel in apackage for containing said towel; placing a heat source proximate saidat least one towel in contact with but separate from said at least onetowel, said heat source comprising a frangible container containing aquantity of supercooled liquid capable of releasing a predeterminedamount of heat upon crystallization and a quantity of the crystal formof said liquid separated from said supercooled liquid and present in anamount sufficient to initiate crystallization of said quantity ofsupercooled liquid upon flexing said frangible container to cause saidcrystal to contact at least a portion of said supercooled liquid; andcausing said frangible container to release said quantity of the crystalform of said liquid to contact said quantity of supercooled liquid tocause an exothermic crystallization of said supercooled liquid.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, wherein said supercooled liquid is selected from thegroup consisting of sodium carbonate and sodium acetate.
 15. The methodof claim 14, wherein said crystallization causes the temperature of thesolidifying liquid to reach a controlled temperature of up to 130° F.16. The method of claim 13, which further includes the step of placing atemperature sensitive portion on said package to indicate thetemperature of the towels after breaking said frangible container. 17.The method of claim 13, which contains a plurality of towels, saidfrangible container being placed proximate the middle of said pluralityof towels to provide heat to said plurality of towels.
 18. The method ofclaim 13, wherein said towels are formed from materials selected fromthe group consisting of natural fibers, synthetic fibers, syntheticmaterials and combinations thereof.